It’s that time of year where residents are preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday with all the fixings and some residents may decide to deep fry their turkey this year.  Price City Fire Chief Fitzgerald Peterson wants to make sure that any cooks that choose to deep fry their turkey will take safety precautions when doing so.

“I’ve got to tell you from experience, I’m talking about the fire job of course, but the mistakes that people make are very consistent and resulting in damage or threats to damage, and that’s what we want to talk about, that’s what you and I have been successful for and one of the most significant is buying and using a near-frozen or frozen turkey, that is the worse thing you can do in this situation,” said Chief Peterson. It’s the ice on or in the turkey that will react to the hot oil and burner which could cause a disaster. Also remember that cooking oil that is heated beyond its smoke point can catch fire, if you notice the oil is smoking, turn the fryer off. It is not a bad idea to have a dry chemical fire extinguisher nearby because a water source will not dowse the fire.

“So that brings us to a couple of other points that we should talk about. Always put it on level ground, always make sure it’s 10 -15 feet away from a building or even a tree, never let children or pets around it while it’s burning. One of the things that I’ve learned this past year, that’s a really good tip, is make sure that once you get your oil to temperature, that you turn that burner off as you submerge the bird. If you’re submerging that with flame underneath, if any of the oils were to surface and get in to underneath that burner, now you’re really in trouble,” stated Chief Peterson. A couple of years ago, the Fire Department shared on their social media page a video of them deep frying a frozen turkey and what can happen when you do so. They plan on either sharing the video again or redoing the demonstration.

All members of the Price City Fire Department would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday.